Liberal Preppers: Preparing for Financial Uncertainty
Today’s blog post is going to have a little twist to it. I was going to talk about financial chaos, but I’m adding to that thought. But let’s talk about chaos first briefly before I get into the issue of liberal preppers and the Trump tariffs.
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Did you ever go somewhere and like the chaos you were experiencing? Have you ever gone shopping somewhere and everything is thrown on the floor or disorganized on the shelves, so you have to sift through everything to find what you are looking for? Do you like that? I want to go with a no on that one.
How Do You React to Chaos?
Nobody likes chaos. It might make for a great movie or television show like “The Walking Dead,” where everyone’s coming after you, but it’s not good in real life. Imagine you go to work, and there’s chaos every single day. It is exhausting. We love structure; we love organization.
This ties into the Trump chaos economy. Do you want to experience an economy built on chaos? That’s why you should look at the prior videos I have posted and blog posts regarding the Trump tariffs. This creates chaos.
Now we have the “Gulf of America,” and the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, made a video presentation explaining how the country used to look while Canada threatened to cut off its energy supply to the northern parts of the United States. All these acts create chaos. It creates insecurity, which creates instability. Of course, President-Elect Trump also continues to talk about buying Greenland. How did this Greenland thing start? Well, Denmark Intelligence believes it’s another attempt by Russia to create chaos.
In 2008, during the mortgage foreclosure crisis, I was hanging out with my former employer, an immigration attorney I worked for during college. In talking, I said, “This is so stressful. I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring.” And he said, “You know who’s not stressed out?” I asked, “Who?” He replied, “My immigration clients.”
That didn’t make any sense to me. I was practicing bankruptcy law and family law. Why was immigration law so different? He answered that his immigration clients, especially from Latin American countries, are used to political instability. Political instability creates chaos and economic instability.
My colleague explained that some Latin American countries are used to a new president coming in, things going well, money is flowing, and they’re spending. Then, a new president steps in, which creates political instability, and the citizens hold back. They’re just used to that back and forth, which we’re not used to.
So, there’s no denying that political instability creates economic instability, which is chaos. No one likes chaos except for the person making it. Anybody who tells me they like chaos at home or work is simply lying.
The Trump Tariffs
I’ve been discussing the Trump tariffs lately because they are a serious financial concern. I keep saying, be prepared. I hope we all make more money. I hope the economy is the best in the world, but historically, a tariff is nothing else than a tax. We’re going to end up paying for it. It will not be the company that imports or exports; it will be us, the consumers.
I also keep referring back to student loans. I posted on social media how many student loan borrowers have had their debts discharged in full thanks to the Biden Administration. Many people freak out about that, but to be clear, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was signed into law by George W. Bush. So, don’t keep blaming Biden for that one. It’s not his baby. He just came and cleaned up the mess. However, the student loan issue is tied to this issue of financial chaos.
Part of what being a liberal prepper means is buying certain products like a new car now to avoid the Trump tariffs, which, in his own words, will be 25%.
My belief is to do the opposite. A sit-and-wait approach. For example, what if the Trump tariffs do come into play? Estimates are that this will cost the average household between $3,000 to $4,000 more per year. If student loan payments also increase, where will you get the money to pay for a new car and student loans? You either have to eliminate expenses equaling those amounts or increase your income. That’s easier said than done.
Are You a Liberal Prepper?
But going with my chaos theory on political and economic instability, I just found an article yesterday where I thought, is that me? Am I a liberal prepper? I’m not referring to the doomsday prepper waiting for the world to go to hell in a handbasket with The Walking Dead taking over. Not that guy. But me. Apparently, I’m a liberal prepper. But it seems liberal preppers aren’t just buying cars but also solar panels concerned about the federal government rebates, which can be substantial, up to thirty percent.
I wasn’t thinking about vaccines, but I see the concern now with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an anti-vaxxer, as he proceeds to be the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Serivces. So, liberal preppers are rushing to get COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.
I got hit hard with COVID-19 in December of 2019. So, I got the vaccine in 2021 through 2023. I skipped 2024 and got hit hard again. Of course, just as I was shaking off COVID, Hurricane Helene blew into town and left me without power for twelve days.
Needless to say, September was not a fun month for me. I lost a month. If you look at my blog posts or videos, there aren’t any. After COVID, the second time around, I decided I would get another booster, but now I might have to hurry up before the Trump administration takes over. It’s not something that ever crossed our mind, but I guess we liberal preppers have to be ready for everything. Come to think of it, maybe my colleague’s immigration clients were the OG of liberal preppers.
When we think of doomsday preppers, typically, they aren’t buying cars, but now we see those are some of the steps liberal preppers are taking. However, I continue to argue the opposite unless the debt of a new car loan isn’t an issue.
Maybe now is the time to hold back on the expenses until things stabilize. And by stabilize, I mean it won’t happen from one day to the next. It takes time. It might take a year and a half to truly feel the effects of a Trump economy as a nation. Multiple credible media and economists, including Moody’s, have said that Trump is inheriting the best economy possible, especially post-COVID, where other countries have hit a recession.
But as we transition from President Biden to President Trump, in just a few days, remember, as George Santayana once said: “Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”
I haven’t forgotten the chaos that occurred under the Trump administration. Remember the Muslim ban in the first week with Trump in office? People were trying to enter the United States legitimately and couldn’t. They were visiting family and purchased airline tickets in advance, but the chaos of the “Muslim Ban” ended with thousands stranded at airports on a global scale. Even legal chaos ensued.
The Supreme Court held hearings on an emergency basis that we all could hear by phone. I don’t know if that has ever happened before, but all that is because of chaos.
Instinctually, if people see chaos, what do they do? They retreat. If you are walking down the street and see chaos of people running around crazy and hitting each other, do you jump in the fray? No, you do the complete opposite. You step back and analyze the situation before making your next move.
Financial Chaos Helps No One, not Even Liberal Preppers
Now, apply chaos to your personal finances. Learning about bankruptcy, debt financing, debt restructuring, mortgages, refinancing, and all those topics I talk about are about being prepared. Let’s go back to when I wasn’t prepared, was caught off-guard, and it cost me a foreclosure.
When the economy was doing great, I kept telling people that the housing bubble before the 2008 mortgage foreclosure was not a positive thing to focus on. If you’re not selling your house, what matters if it’s worth more?
The more your house increases in value, the more your taxes and insurance premiums increase. This isn’t a good thing. While I kept talking about it, I wasn’t focused on it. I was so focused on running a law practice that everything else around me was a blur. But when the mortgage lender sent me an escrow shortage letter of $1,500 monthly, they now had my attention.
Oh my God! I’m about to have a heart attack and die. Where am I getting an additional $1500 per month? I wasn’t prepared. So I got into debt, and then when Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma caused substantial damage to my home, it was time to walk away. But from those hard lessons learned, that is what I’m saying now. Be prepared.
I’ve made several YouTube videos and blog posts about the Trump economy. I understand that everyone’s situation is different. Maybe a new car loan isn’t an issue financially for you, even if your expenses increase.
Maybe an increase in student loan payments isn’t an issue, if so, more power to you. But if you think student loan monthly payments will increase, which they probably will, is now the time to buy a new car because you’re avoiding the 25% tax? Maybe it is best to hold on to your vehicle and consider a new purchase later. Sometimes, we have to hurry up and wait.
Political instability leads to chaos, which leads to financial instability. It’s a vicious circle. Now, it makes sense that my colleagues’ immigration clients retreated financially.
No one wishes to walk into chaos. The instinct is to walk away from it. We are already witnessing political instability, creating chaos that has a financial impact because of President-Elect Trump’s threat of tariffs. Canada and Mexico have responded with threats. Threats begets threats. It’s that simple.
Are you a liberal prepper? Let me know your thoughts. You can comment on my YouTube video, which you can see below, or in the community section where I post regularly.
So, in a few days, Trump’s inauguration will be held. Let’s see what the future holds, as this might be when we retreat and hold our position. Analyze your situation and take it from there.
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